Drom: the street game that explores life on the road

If your home was a caravan and you lived in London, where would you put up for the night? Would you feel safe? What if you had to rely on the kindness of strangers just to find a place to stay?

Such is the premise of Drom, a pervasive game exploring the precarious life of the Romani, also known as Gypsies, the generations-old nomadic people which once moved through England and other parts of Europe but now find their way of life increasingly threatened by urban expansion and changing council laws.

Drom (which means 'road') coincides with the three-week run of Shraddha at the Soho Theatre, a love story between a gypsy girl and a council-estate boy, set against the displacement of the Hackney Romany settlement in East London as their camping grounds are redeveloped for the London Olympics.

The game's two travellers will be caravanning through London's streets, searching nightly for a safe place to park guided only by recommendations from the games' online players, who can make suggestions via email, Twitter or SMS. Players must provide a location and a justification for their submission, but otherwise the travellers are utterly at the whim of the players.

Every Friday and Saturday during the Shraddha run, the travellers will choose a site recommended by a stranger, set up camp and document the results. The caravan's progress can be tracked live via GPS, and the travellers themselves will be keeping video blogs of their experiences. Should they be 'moved on' by authorities or unsavoury characters, there are cameras hidden around the caravan to record the run-in. As the weeks wear on the journey will spiral inwards towards the Soho Theatre, and the winning player is the one who locates an overnight stay closest to the venue.

Simon Johnson, co-founder of Simon Games and one of Drom's designers, explains that the goal is to use social networking tools to create empathy between the players and the travellers, and through that experience raise awareness of Romani history and culture:

"We wanted Drom to highlight some of the themes of Shraddha, to move them out of the theatre and engage with them through play," says Evans, who will be one of travellers in the caravan. "We've mainly focused on one aspect – the destructive effect of site closures on the lives of Traveller and Gypsy communities. We want people to consider what they would do in a similar situation."

Drom kicks off today and runs until the final performance of Shaddhra on November 21